How to remove blackberry Bushes.

Safety First!

When dealing with blackberry bush removal it is best to protect yourself as much as possible. Eye protection, long pants and long sleaved shirts are a must for the inexperienced.

We have several years of experience doing blackberry removal and even we get cuts every time. There are lots of gloves out there that say they are cut proof but the absolute best gloves we have found is welding gloves. They are not cheap, but they are long gloves that come up your forearms and they are so thick you can literally grab the thickest and biggest blackberry thrones anywhere and not feel a thing.

The most time consuming part of blackberry removal is grabbing them and moving them out of the way. When your hands are protected properly, it speeds this process up ten fold.

Find out how we can help you get rid of your blackberry bushes!

What tools do you need to remove Blackberry Bushes

the type of tools depends on how big of an area you have that needs to be cleared from blackberry bushes. Over the years we have cleared acers of overgrown blackberry bushes with a tractor and skid steers, we have cleared whole back yards that have been overgrown with blackberry bushes, or small areas in the corner that just got out of hand.

It is true that you can tackle such a task with hand sheers or pruners, but the time will take a lot longer. Even if you use gas powered hand tools, you will find that what we can do in 2 hours takes many people a day or two. But if you are up for the task I commend you. Before we get into how to remove blackberry bushes, we will go over the tools you may need;

• Hand sheers

• Pruners

• electric or gas powered Weedwhacker with saw blade end ( be carefull)

• electric or gas powered hand held hedge trimmer.

• Gas powered long handled hedge trimmer.

• Pitch fork

• Shovel

• hoe, Pry bars, Pick axe

• Tarps

• a truck you dont care about because it will get scratched!

• for acreage you will need all of the above as well as Skid steers or tractors, flail mowers, brush cutters or brush mulchures (which we have all of)

Where to start?

The most common question when we are asked to quote blackberry removal is " Will they come back?". In short, Yes....Unless you follow these steps.

The only way they won't come back is if you get to the roots. Lets not put the cart before the horse though...before you get to the roots of the blackberry bushes, you have to get rid of the bushes!

So how do you get rid of blackberry bushes? We do not recommend mulching the blackberry bushes on the spot. we have two reasons for this.

1. Mulching the stocks means you will thorns and small stocks on your ground for years as they do not decompose at all. If you have pets, or ever have the thought of walking barefoot in your property, do not mulch.

2. Although the stocks do not decompose, the leafs and blackberries do. So you will be providing nutrients to the ground and to the blackberry roots when you mulch it.

The best first step for removal is to cut and remove the blackberry bushes. You do not need to cut them flush to the ground. On the contrary, you want to leave the blackberry stocks sticking out of the ground 4-6 inches so you know where to dig.

Again, we are exceptionally quick at this step. We do offer full blackberry bush removal including the root removal, but most of our clients hire us to do the bush removal and they opt to do the root removal. Why? Because the bush removal is the most painful, time consuming and bloody part to the unexperienced. Our clients value their time and prefer to have us get rid of the bushes, Often times while they are at work, and then they have a clean slate to start the root remediation by the weekend.

We also have a large truck, One full load of our truck is the same as 6 loads in a pick up truck. This is also why we are so much faster than a regular home owner with a pick up truck ( or most of our competition) .

You can do it! It just takes 6 trips to the disposal site when it takes us just one. We also have a tipper truck so our blackberry bushes slide right out of our truck. You will have to unload by hand. Ouch!

This brings us to the next thing we do NOT recommend.

When removing blackberry bushes, do not put all your cuttings in one big pile. As you work It is best to create manageable piles of blackberry bushes that you can easily lift, or haul with a tarp to your truck. The reason? One word... Velcro.

Blackberry bushes are just like velcro and as you create a pile the vines intertwine and hang onto each other like grim death. We get calls all the time by very proud potential clients who call us back, say they cut the bushes and now would like us to remove the blackberry cuttings because they only have a car. It's Not that simple

That large pile is now tangled together, you can not move it all at once and it now has to be re cut to manageable sizes to haul to the truck. It would have been the same price if they just hired us in the first place. So please, if you choose to cut your blackberry bushes yourself, create several small piles and then load each pile into your truck one at a time.

How to cut blackberry bushes

As Mentioned in the Tools section, you can tackle blackberry bush removal with simple hand sheers or gas powered hedge trimmers. Because of how blackberry bushes grow, the longer the implement the better.

If working with gas powered tools, please be careful of yourself and others. They can cause serious cuts and harm. They can easily take off your finger!

We are trained in working with a helper and we take the blackberry bushes out in large chunks If you are working by yourself, then you won't be able to do this as much. Slow and steady wins the race. Just simply cut the vince and work your way into the blackberry bushes till you can access where they are coming out of the ground. Remember to only cut about 4 inches from the ground so the roots can easily be found later.

Once you have cut, removed and disposed of the blackberry bushes you are now onto the roots!

How to remove blackberry bush roots

It is at this stage that lots of people think they are winning the battle and start to slack off. Persistence is key! Because of how fast blackberry bushes grow, if you slack off at this step, and take a weekend off from working on this, they will grow so fast that your yard will be taken over by blackberry bushes quicker than it took you to remove the bushes. In fact, if you work on it only on weekends, it is not uncommon for new shoots to pop up and grow 1-2 feet within 7 days!

If you have read this far and feel defeated before you even started, please consider a free quote! This is why many of our clients hire us for our monthly maintenance package. You can always find out more about our blackberry removal here.

If you are still up for the challenge then lets do this! I mean you have made it this far right?

Grab your pitch fork, shovel(s) and hand sheers, walk up to the first cluster of blackberry stalks sticking out of the ground and whisper, "you are not welcome here" Lets get to work!

Depending on the type of soil, you will learn pretty quickly what tools are working better for you. The good thing is that blackberry roots are fairly shallow. They still have a tap root and that is the tricky part. As you dig around the stocks, you will start to uncover a blackberry tuber. Depending on how loose the soil is, they sometimes pull right out, sometimes they take more work. It is very important to get as much, if not all of the blackberry root as possible. any root left behind could give the blackberry bush a chance of regrowth.

If you have found this information helpful, give us a like or a follow on facebook. Or even give us a Google review. I mean if you found this free information usefull in your battle against blackberry bushes, then our service helped you and we would love the recognition.

Pesticides and sprays that kill Blackberry Bushes.

We get asked all the time, what spray will kill blackberry bushes. Although there are some out there, they are not permitted to be sold to the general public. Interestingly enough, they are also not permitted to be used in any city! They are simply not good for the environment, not good for the bees and not good for the fish.

We recommend Manual or machine labour to remove blackberry bushes.

Persistence and dedication is key! You have made it this far, don't give up! Our monthly maintenance package makes it very affordable for you to have the blackberry removal permanent.